40 Facts About John Cena On His 40th Birthday

The Champ Is 40! Fresh off his WrestleMania engagement to Nikki Bella, John Cena is celebrating his 40th birthday today.

Never one to give up, or take a rest for that matter, Cena celebrated his 40th birthday by posting a video of himself casually knocking out a 600lb deadlift.

Cena is currently on hiatus from the ring while he works on various film projects, including a feature role in The Pact. Even though Cena will be away from WWE TV for a while, we’re still seeing plenty of the Cenation leader on social media.

Just two days ago, Cena and his new fiance posted a video of them stripping down to their birthday suits to celebrate a huge social media milestone.

Many experts and fans alike believe the 16 time World Champion has possibly become the greatest WWE Superstar of all time as he has carried the company on his back for well over a decade.

To celebrate his milestone, here are 40 facts about the 40 year old WWE living legend.

1

John Cena was born on April 23, 1977 in West Newbury, Massachusetts, the son of Carol and John Cena, Sr.

2

He is the second oldest of five brothers: Dan, Matt, Steve, and Sean. John Cena was joined by his brother, Matt, on the cover of the August 2009 issue of Flex bodybuilding magazine.

3

His father, John Cena Sr., is of Italian descent, while his mother has English and French Canadian ancestry. Wrestling runs in the family as Cena Sr. took control of the Millennium Wrestling Federation that operates out of Melrose, MA, in 2007. 

4

His maternal grandfather was baseball player Tony Lupien. Lupien, a 5’10” first basement, played 6 years in the majors in the 40s, including three with Cena’s hometown Boston Red Sox. 

5

Cena originally attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, before transferring to Cushing Academy, a private prep boarding school.

6

After graduating from Cushing Academy, Cena attended Springfield College in Springfield, MO. A tri-captian for the 1988 football team that went 9-2 and advanced to the program’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

7

Cena was a NCAA Division III All-American center on the college football team, wearing the number 54, which is still used on some of his WWE merchandise.

8

He graduated from Springfield in 1998 with a degree in exercise physiology, after which he pursued a career in bodybuilding and worked as a driver for a limousine company. Cena showed considerable promise as a young bodybuilder in his early 20s even though he only placed second at the contest. And thanks to Todd Smith (the bodybuilder who beat him), the video of John Cena the bodybuilder has been immortalized on YouTube.

9

Cena started his professional wrestling career in 1999 with Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) and won the UPW Heavyweight Championship the following year. 

10

In 2001, Cena signed a developmental contract with the WWF and was assigned to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).[43] During his time there, Cena wrestled under the ring name The Prototype and held the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino) for two months.

11

Cena made his WWE television debut on the June 27, 2002 episode of SmackDown! by answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle. After declaring that he possessed “ruthless aggression”, Cena lost by a pinning combination. 

12

From a generic character in 2002, Cena morphed into an arrogant and edgy rapper for the time period of 2002–2004, which earned him a huge stardom within the audience on SmackDown! Cena later transitioned to his current character, which he describes as a “goody-two shoes Superman”.

13

Cena has been labeled as the “most polarizing professional wrestler ever” as he has split audiences with his Lets Go Cena and Cena Sucks chants for nearly ten years. 

14

In 2012, IGN described Cena as WWE’s franchise player since 2005[13] and in 2015, WWE credited Cena as being the “face of WWE”.

15

Paul Heyman once referred to Cena as “the best wrestler ever”. Heyman said about Cena that “no one has been able to keep that schedule, no one has matched his box-office appeal, no one has sold more merchandise, no one has had the longevity, the box-office attraction as the main, top level, box-office attraction than John Cena”.

16

So far in his career, Cena has won 24 championships, with 16 reigns as a world champion (13 times as WWE Champion – with his 12th reign being as WWE World Heavyweight Champion – and three times as WWE’s World Heavyweight Champion), five reigns as United States Champion, and four reigns as world tag team champion (two World Tag Team and two WWE Tag Team).

17

Cena won the Money in the Bank ladder match in 2012, but lost his cash-in to CM Punk. 

18

Cena won the Royal Rumble in 2008 and 2013.

19

John is a three-time Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner (2009, 2010, 2012).

20

Cena has the fourth-highest number of combined days as WWE Champion, behind Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, and Hulk Hogan. He has also headlined WWE’s flagship event, WrestleMania, on five different occasions (WrestleManias 22, 23, XXVII, XXVIII, and 29) over the course of his career.

21

John Cena was WWE’s highest-paid wrestler until 2016 when an injury and prolonged hiatus allowed Brock Lesnar to edge him out.

22

Cena’s rap album You Can’t See Me debuted at No. 15 on the US Billboard 200 chart.

Yep, seriously.

23

Cena has starred in the feature films The Marine (2006), 12 Rounds (2009), Legendary (2010), The Reunion (2011), Trainwreck (2015), and Sisters (2015).

24

Cena has also made appearances on television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Saturday Night Live, Punk’d, Psych, and Parks and Recreation. He is also the host of FOX’s American Grit reality show. 

25

He was also a contestant on Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, where he made it to the final round before being eliminated, placing third in the overall competition. 

26

Cena is involved in numerous philanthropic causes; most notably with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He has granted the most wishes in Make-A-Wish history.

27

Cena wrote all the freestyle raps that he used in his onscreen rap battles as the Doctor of Thuganomics. 

28

Cena is a fan of Japanese anime and has mentioned that his favorite anime movie is Fist of the North Star. He has also said he is a fan of the video game series Command & Conquer and noted that it was his favorite game.

29

Cena is also a fan of the Boston Bruins, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, New England Patriots, Boston Celtics, and English soccer team Tottenham Hotspur FC.

30

He collects muscle cars and has over 20, some of which are one-of-a-kind.

31

While promoting his 2009 film, 12 Rounds, Cena announced his engagement to Elizabeth Huberdeau. They were married on July 11, 2009. On May 1, 2012, Cena filed for divorce, which was finalized on July 18. The divorce was mentioned on-screen during Cena’s feud with The Rock as part of their rematch at WrestleMania 29.

32

Stephanie McMahon once fought for a Cena heel turn but was shot down. 

“At one point in his career I really wanted to see him turn heel. I wanted it, as a fan, and I also thought it was the right thing to do. But it turns out I was wrong.”

“Oh yeah, totally I did, yeah. But I’m glad we didn’t go that way. I think now it would be odd for John to turn heel. I guess never say never because anything can happen in WWE but I don’t think I would really miss it. I think that we would miss him, I don’t know that we would miss the heel turn.”

33

Cena heavily criticized The Rock for leaving WWE for Hollywood, but recently apologized for his short-sighted remarks. Considering his own recent success on the big screen, Cena is now thankful for The Rock paving the way. 

34

Since November 2012, Cena has been dating fellow WWE Superstar Nikki Bella. Cena proposed to Nikki after their match against The Miz and Maryse at WrestleMania 33.

35

John Cena’s mother attended her first WrestleMania this past year in Orlando to see her son get engaged. 

36

Cena has headlined WWE’s flagship event, WrestleMania, on five different occasions (WrestleManias 22, 23, XXVII, XXVIII, and 29).

37

Cena’s finisher was originally called the F-U, a direct response to Brock Lesnar’s F-5. When the WWE entered the PG era it was changed to the Attitude Adjustment or AA. 

A 2005 feud with Angle also saw Cena add a secondary, submission based, finishing maneuver – the STFU (a stepover toehold sleeper, though named for a stepover toehold facelock) – when he was put into a triple threat submissions only match on the November 28 episode of Raw.

38

After RAW one night, Ric Flair’s ex-wife Tiffany called him and was not happy. She asked what Flair was doing at the hotel bar, to which he replied: “I’m gonna have a few beers with Cena”

She asked if Flair was ever going to grow up and told him that he should stay in at night instead of partying. She followed it up by asking this question about Flair and Cena: “What do you have in common with someone 30 years younger than you?”

Flair was pissed off by this comment and proceeded to stay out until 4 in the morning with Cena, drinking heavily. When Flair got home, his wife had moved out. This turned out to be the end of their relationship.

39

Flair spoke with WWE.com about John Cena tying his record for most world championships and said, “I’m one of John’s biggest fans. Not only as a person and a human being, but as a wrestler. He’s a great guy, he works incredibly hard, he’s had an amazing career.”

“He’s been the flagship for this company for a long time and if someone is gonna get that record, or tie it, or ultimately break it, I couldn’t be happier for John Cena.” Adding, “It takes a lot of work and a lot of time to win 16 World titles.”

40

John Cena has not faced The Undertaker since 2006. Cena was rumored to face The Deadman at both WrestleMania 32 and 33, but Cena’s 2016 injury changed last year’s plans and Roman Reigns was given Undertaker’s final match this year in Orlando.

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